and adds to a more complete understanding of the actions of the Texas Chero-kees and of Indian-white relations in Texas during the revolutionary period.Xavzer University F. TODD SMITHChampions of the Cherokees: Evan and John B. Jones. By William G. McLoughlin.(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990. Pp. xiv+498. List of illustra-tions, list of tables, acknowledgments, abbreviations, introduction, epi-logue, bibliographical notes, index, illustrations, tables. $39.50.)American Indian history has undergone a transformation of sorts during thelast two decades. No longer is it exclusively the story of Euroamerican relationswith Indians. Indians have acquired their voices, achieved their independence,and reclaimed their histories. Methods of history and anthropology have beenjoined to produce the hybrid ethnohistory. That is why, at first glance, thisbook may cause some distress for readers whose primary interest is AmericanIndian ethnohistory. Once again, whites are the champions, Indians theirgrateful lieges. Instead of a simple biography of two white men, father and son,who lived and worked in the world of Northern Baptist home missions duringthe mid-nineteenth century, readers are surfeited with ethno-heroics. Unableto defend themselves, Cherokees must await their great white paladins.There is certainly some of this in McLoughlin's book. His subject engrosseshim. He is a skilled biographer. On occasion, Evan and John Jones, father andson, grow tiresome in all their efforts to "improve" the Cherokee and to helpthem "find God" (p. 3). Readers, however, should not be put off by either thetone or the subject. As the author rightly claims, the book also examines theCherokees' efforts to understand the missionaries.Evan and John Jones were extraordinary missionaries who lived among theCherokees from 1821 to 1876. They were expelled four times, twice for theiranti-slavery stance, and twice by the federal government for assisting the Chero-kees in their long resistance to Indian removal. If conversion of Indians toChristianity can be a measure of success, than the Joneses were among the mostinfluential and successful missionaries in the history of the United States. Be-tween them, according to McLoughlin's research, they converted more Indiansthan any other Protestant missionaries. Through their efforts, the Baptists be-came the denomination of the Cherokee Nation's chiefs as well as of its rankand file. Unlike so many other missionaries, the Joneses learned that it was notnecessary to condemn or alienate those Cherokees who clung to many aspectsof their old religion. The Joneses operated from religious principles outsidethe normal range of their peers. Their syncretic view of Christianity, of course,had its limit. Still, readers will discover a fascinating study rich in detail andsophisticated in its analysis of such major themes as Indian removal, slaveryamong the Five Civilized Tribes, the Civil War in Indian Territory, and Texasand Kansas border politics. Finally, the Joneses' refusal to accept "cultural in-justice and oppression may tell us more about 'American civihzation' than wewant to remember. There were alternatives" (p. 484).